Phil Mahre, who won a silver medal in the slalom in 1980 and a gold in that same event in 1984, is the only other American man with two Alpine medals.

Twelve countries unequally divided 30 Alpine medals, but many skiers felt an emotional distance from the Albertville valley and the heart of the 1992 Winter Games.

A second Alpine medal will be at stake in downhill portion of the men's combined event.

Alaskan Tommy Moe, the best American hope for an Alpine medal, could break through in the downhill or Super-G, which will be held on his 24th birthday.

That's more Alpine medals than the Americans have won in the last three Olympics combined.

Armstrong won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, a year that the United States won five Alpine medals.

On a team stacked with big-name stars, it was Ligety, in his second year of international skiing, who earned the first Alpine medal for the United States at the 2006 Winter Games.

Hilary Lindh won the silver in the downhill and Diann Roffe in the giant slalom - the first Alpine medals for the United States since 1984.

Will it be Kjetil Andre Aamodt, the gifted, exacting Norwegian who could conceivably walk away with five Alpine medals and the eternal gratitude of his countrymen?

The one and only United States contender for a men's Alpine medal had no outstanding difficulty today with the Olympic downhill course.